Parent Child Interaction Training PCIT (Zisser & Eyberg, 2010; Briegel, 2016) is an evidence-based treatment of oppositional defiant disorder in preschool children. However, it is implemented in few institutions in Europe. The advantage of PCIT is the involvement of both child and parents with direct coaching of the parents.

We will give an overview of 20 treatment courses we have conducted since the introduction of PCIT at the Zurich University Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. First, a descriptive analysis of our sample will be conducted. The influence of sample characteristics and intensity of training on the reduction of behavioral problems will be analyzed.

Parents attend the training for at least 6 months with regular sessions. The transfer into everyday life is achieved by daily homework. We use the Eyberg Child Problem Behavior Inventory as pre-post measurements. The ECBI is filled out by the parents before each session and also enables a progress analysis.

Three times more boys participated than girls. Problem behavior was significantly reduced after the play training phase. There was also a significant overall pre-post effect. The effect seemed to be independent of the parental problem score before training and of the number of play-training sessions.

Parents and children clearly benefit from the play training. For the following cooperation training, the problem load experienced by the parents seems to be more relevant than the intensity of the child’s problem behavior as assessed by them. This is to be examined in the future.

No significant relationships.

Parent training is an evidence based and highly effective intervention for conduct disorders in children. Traditionally, only the parents participate in behavioral trainings, implementing the new skills in their homes on their own between the appointments. In some cases, this turns out as not intense enough.

Therefore, we recently implemented the German version of the PCIT Parent Child Interaction Training in our clinic in Zurich, Switzerland.

PCIT is an evidence-based and highly effective intervention for children aged 2-7 years with conduct disorders (Zisser & Eyberg, 2010; Briegel, 2016). Parents visit the clinic weekly with their child and are directly supported in their interaction by the therapists. A special treatment room was set up for this intervention.

We will present our first experiences with this approach in the highly international and urban population of Zurich.

Parents appreciate to work with their child while being directly coached by the therapists. Almost all parents achieved considerable progress in their skills and the conduct problems reduced over time.

There is evidence that maternal perinatal depression is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes in children. No study has yet examined the association between maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and the postpartum period and the risk of oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) in children and adolescents.

This study aimed to investigate whether there is an association between perinatal depressive symptoms and the risk of ODD in offspring from age 7 to 15 years.

We used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population-based prospective birth cohort study in the UK. Offspring ODD at the age of 7, 10, 13 and 15 years were assessed by using parental reports the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA). We applied Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) modelling to examine associations across the four time points.

Maternal postnatal depressive symptoms were associated with more a two-fold increased risk of ODD overall. Third trimester depressive symptoms (measured at 32 weeks of gestation) increased risk of ODD by 72%. Offspring of mothers who had depressive symptoms both during pregnancy and in the first year of postpartum period have a four-fold increased risk of ODD over time (adjusted OR = 3.59 (1.98-6.52).

Offspring of mothers with perinatal depressive symptoms are at an increased risk of developing behavioural disorders.